Introduction: Abraham must have dearly loved Ishmael, his first-born son. Abraham had watched Ishmael grow to young manhood, even making sure he was circumcised along with Abraham and every male in the household. But now, something was about to happen, and Ishmael along with Hagar, his mother, were about to be forced out of Abraham’s family.
1 A Time to Rejoice: Celebrating a milestone for Isaac
Text, Genesis 21:1-8, KJV: 1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
One of the happiest days of Abraham’s long life had to be the day when he heard Sarah, his wife, was finally pregnant with their child. True enough, Sarah had encouraged Abraham to take Hagar, their Egyptian maidservant, and have a child by her, but that didn’t work out. Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, was indeed Abraham’s pick to be his heir but God told him NO. The promise God made in Genesis 19 was a solemn promise and God has always kept every promise He has ever made.
This one was no different.
Granted, our sense of timing, scheduling, and so forth does not necessarily mesh or line up with the Lord’s plan or schedule of doing things. God never told Abraham just when his heir would be born, only that he would be born. It turns out that 13 years went by before Abraham’s heir was born to him. But before that, God would have had to perform a miracle: Abraham and Sarah were both long past the age of childbearing (Abraham was 99 years old; Sarah, 89; compare Genesis 16:16 with 17:24 and 21:4).
Now, Abraham must have been happy when he heard Sarah was going to have his child—after so many years of waiting! Even so, he must have felt even better when Isaac was born. As a reminder, Isaac means laughter (or words to that effect) so I wonder if Abraham remembered his own laughing when he heard God’s promise in Gen: 17:17, or Sarah’s laughter in Gen. 18:12. Who knows?
But he and Sarah and most of the household must have been happy when the baby, Isaac, was born. After all, this is something they had been waiting for ever since the promise was made.
And still happier was the day when Isaac was weaned! Abraham made a “great feast” for that day, but sadly, some bad things were about to happen.
2 A Time to Confront: Dealing with unexpected responses
Text, Genesis 21:9-13, KJV: 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
An unsolved mystery is why some people do some very inappropriate things, even at times of happiness. As mentioned in verse 8, Abraham had made a great feast to celebrate, maybe, the first or second milestone in Isaac’s life. He and Sarah and maybe most if not all of the household would be rejoicing and having a good time, wouldn’t they?
Not Ishmael, though.
He decided to engage in doing something “mocking”. Moses did not describe just what that kind of “mocking” behavior Ishmael was doing. Ishmael was old enough to know better, and do better: after all, he was 13 years old when Isaac was born and even older now. According to some sources, children wouldn’t be weaned until they were around three years of age and there was no reason for Ishmael to do what he was doing.
Whatever Ishmael was doing in his “mocking” was something that really upset Sarah. No doubt she had bad feelings about his mother, Hagar, ever since Abraham had taken her as another wife in order to produce a child—at Sarah’s suggestion (see Genesis 16)! Sarai, as Sarah was known at the time, even gave Abram (his name at the time) a curse by saying, Let what happened to me now happen to you or words to that effect. As it turned out, Hagar left—while pregnant with her child—but returned after she met the Angel of the LORD. I doubt Sarah was pleased with this.
She absolutely was furious now, after she became aware of Ishmael’s “mocking” and told Abraham, “Cast her out! That woman’s son will not be an heir with my son!’ or, in just a few words, “Get her out of here and her son, too!”
Now it was Abraham’s turn to be upset. He clearly hadn’t wanted Sarah to become angry—she already was by this time—because Isaac was now born and he was destined to be Abraham’s heir. But Abraham didn’t want to lose Ishmael, either, so now, what was he going to do?
There was only one solution, but it would be painful for those involved.
3 A Time to Leave: Sending people away for good
Text, Genesis 21:14-21, KJV: 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
I doubt anybody got much sleep after that “great feast” Abraham had arranged, in order to celebrate another milestone in Isaac’s life. The feast had begun with joy, degenerated into “mocking (had anyone joined Ishmael in this?)” and ended up with an ultimatum. Now Abraham had another hard decision to make. This morning, it was a time for some to leave.
Permanently.
This “exit” or departure from Abraham’s household was different, this time, for Hagar. Previously (see Genesis 16), Hagar had fled while she was pregnant with Abraham’s child, seemingly with nothing except her clothing; nothing is mentioned in the text about food, water, or anything else. She was near a fountain or well of water in the desert when the Angel of the LORD found her and told her to go back, which she did. That was at least 13-16 years before.
Now Abraham gives her bread and a “bottle” or skin full of water. He put it on her shoulder and “sent her away”. One can only imagine the emotions in this episode: Abraham seeing his first child and his mother walking away, their shapes growing smaller as they journeyed—to where? This was something Abraham probably had no great desire to do, but he was compelled to do so. Clearly, Sarah was not happy with the arrangements before this time but her reaction after Hagar and Ishmael departed is not recorded here.
After they left, Abraham might have wondered where they would go. Moses used the word “wandered”, as translated in the KJV, but the word may have deeper meanings than simply going here and there, not necessarily knowing where they were headed. Navigation by night, using the stars, might have been one option; using the sun’s angles to determine east and west might have been something else. At any rate, they were “wandering” in the wilderness or desert of Beersheba, close to the southern edge of what later became Israel’s territory.
In that climate, it wouldn’t take long to use up any water you had brought and that happened here, as well. How much time it took for Hagar and Ishmael to consume the water Abraham had provided is not clear. But one thing was very clear, and that was they were now out of water and there didn’t seem to be any in sight.
This next series of events are almost unreal. Hagar “cast” Ishmael “under one of the shrubs” there in the wilderness. Then, after she had left him there, she went away “a good way off, as it were a bowshot” because she didn’t want to see her son die of thirst (or anything else). But then she “sat over against him”—not clear as translated in the KJV; hadn’t she already left?—and began to weep. This doesn’t seem to be a very happy ending, at least at this point.
But there was more to come.
The angel of God (same as the Angel of the LORD, most likely) heard Ishmael’s voice! Had he been praying to the God of his father, Abraham? God heard something from him, and then, from heaven, related this to Hagar. The Angel even asked her, “What aileth thee, Hagar (this phrase could be rendered differently in other translations)?” Then the Angel reminded her that God had heard Ishmael where he was.
And there was still more. The Angel told Hagar to lift up the lad and hold him in her hand then repeated the promise, “I (God) will make him a great nation”. After this, God opened Hagar’s eyes so that she could see a well of water. I wonder if Hagar remembered her encounter with God 14 or so years before when, at that time, God had spoken to her by a well or fountain; now, she’s more in need of water than ever before and God allows her to see another well. That would remind me of God’s goodness!
After this, a good number of years go by. Ishmael grew up, became an archer, and dwelt in the wilderness. Hagar found an Egyptian girl for Ishmael to marry and they had a goodly number of children. Their descendants are listed in Genesis 25:12-18. But they had only limited encounters with the descendants of Isaac over the course of history. Could things have been fixed, or the relationships have been repaired? We will never know.
Conclusion:
Abraham’s desire to help God out, by not waiting for God to arrange things in His timetable, was one of Abraham’s greatest mistakes. In only 15 years or so, he faced struggles with his true wife and his second wife, plus the pain if seeing his own son being cast out, away from the family, perhaps forever. True, the time came for some to leave, for good, but obedience to the Lord, and waiting for Him and His schedule, would have prevented all of this.
May we remember to wait until we have our Lord’s clear direction, and then follow through with appropriate responses, when the answer comes. It would have worked for Abraham, and it will work for any believer who seeks and follows the Lord!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
